I’m thinking of getting a hardtail on the Bike To Work scheme. The two favourites just now are the Kona Caldera and the Orange P7. I know the arguments of steel vs aluminium, but wondered, is 130 mm overkill for a hardtail?

I’m only wanting something fastish to muck around on. I tried a P7 at Laggan last weekend and loved it, but not sure I wouldn’t regret 130 mm on the climbs (I know it has a lockout).

Any thoughts? My head says Kona, my heart says Orange.

P7. 130mm is fine.

Some of the trails I wished I had 130mm, while most of the climbs I was glad I had 100mm 🙂 Depends where you ride, but you can get away with 100mm in most places.

Mostly it would be used for messing around in the Pentlands, which aren’t hugely technical, so I’m guessing 100 mm is enough. There’s just something iconic about the P7 though that makes me want it.

get an adjustable fork and set it to 115mm?

I’m not really helping am I….

Yes amedias has it.

Get some spring U-turn Revs…. 85-130.

As long as the bike’s well designed for it,130mm is fine. U-turn is still nice though, gives you extra options for really nadgery climbs (black hill).

Apologies if I’m being thick here, but the shocks on the P7 (Rockshox Tora 302 with lockout) basically means you either have the full 130 mm or nothing, doesn’t it? Or does the U-turn allow you to vary the travel (the technical bits of mountain biking have never been my strong point)?

U-Turn allow you to adjust the amount of travel. In the case of the 302 coils, it’s anywhere between 85 and 130mm 🙂 Dial-adjuster on the top of the RH fork leg.

130mm fine on my Handjob (Cove Handjob that is - ahem!)

Just thought I'd clarify...

The Orange site specifies Tora 302 U-turn which as Jimbo says adjusts from 85-130mm, similar to Recons on my bike, very handy. 😀

So if the U-turn lets you vary the travel between 85 and 130, what’s the difference between those and the Fox TALAS shocks? Or isn’t there any?

TALAS adjusts to three presets, does it not? (Max, middle and minimum). U-Turn adjusts to (almost: 2mm increments or soemthing) anywhere between 130mm and 85mm (or whatever the max/minimum travel is for your fork).

So U-turn is far more variable then, though maybe a little more fiddly to set?

Yeah, U-turn works by twisting a knob basically. One turn = 7.5mm travel adjustment or something. I have U-turn, and it is nice to have. I can’t help thinking that the Fox system of three travel settings makes more sense though. How often do I think ‘Ooh, I better use 127mm of travel here, 130 is a bit much!’?

Not often.

That’s pretty much what I was thinking poppa.

I’m using reba 85-115mm U turns.

I genrally use 85mm or 100m.

130mm is more than fine.

Having owned a Klein Attitude with 100mm travel and switched to at Ti 456 with 130mm Coil Revs last year, I’d never, ever go back.

The longer travel gives me more confidence on anything fast or technical and I generally leave it at 130mm on all but the steepest of climbs. Obvioiusly, it depends on the geometry of your bike, but you’d expect a frame thats designed around a long travel fork to make the necessary considerations.

If its the P7 S , I think it has an adjustable travel fork so you can lower the front to improve singletrack and climbing handling. If it’s the P7 pro, then I think it has a FOX 130mm non adjustable fork. My mate has one of these and I have only had a quick go – it felt really nice and surprisingly lively and it had quite a good amount of sag anyway.

I’ve ridden a Caldera for a half day and really enjoyed it’s quick handling and climbing, But you cant go wrong with a P7, it’s a classic bike that’s been tweaked to keep it up to date.

I use Pace forks on my Soda and the push lock facility is really good for climbs and long road sections. Then it unlocks itself on the downs!

I could never go back to 100mm after running 130mm for for past 5 years.

130mm hardtails are great – I reckon that a long fork on a hardtail actually softens the back end as the fork compresses a bit when you hit stuff hard at the back.

For climbing, if the bike’s designed for a 130mm fork then it should be fine – certainly the 130mm forked bikes I’ve had have all been and if you’re really that bothered, get a u-turn RS fork and wind it down for climbing. I only ever use the u-turn on my Revelations to adjust handling – down to 100 for silly fast handling fun, 115mm for twisty singletrack and 130 for trail centres, etc. I rarely adjust it through a ride though.

I’ve got 100-130mm u-turn revs on one of my bikes. I only ever wind the travel in if there is a long steep granny gear climb coming up, otherwise it’s fine at 130mm.

Fixed 130mm on my PA and never feel that I’m missing the ability to drop the travel. I’m pretty sure it climbs better than the 100mm Kona I had before did.

Can you adjust the U-turn on the fly?

if the 100mm fork is better than the 130mm one get it – quality not quantity.

dont waste time/money with adjustable travel or lockout

I’ve got a 100mm fork on my light weight hardtail and can’t say I’ve ever felt I need more travel on it. I ride mostly the North York Moors, the Dales, Peaks, and trail centres in North Wales and North Yorkshire. There is nothing I’ve encountered that needs more than 100mm of travel. My mate rides a hardtail with 80mm forks and is way faster than me, travel is not a substitute for skill. I’ve tried a 5 inch fork on my hardtail over 3 years back when longtravel hardtails were becoming the rage. The idea, I’m assuming, of putting more weight over the front because of the bigger forks to take the weight off the rear so you can go faster did not work better than using your knees properly to soften the rear end for stability and speed when descending, IMHO. I’ve found using a larger air volume tyre offers much more descending comfort than an extra inch on the front. I’d go for a 100mm forked hardtail with a good fork and plenty of tyre clearance, but maybe that’s just me.

85-130mm Coil Revs on a Pipedream.

Love the fact I can wind up to 130mm for coming down and down to 100mm ish for climbing (and lockout too). Great forks.

Can you adjust the U-turn on the fly?

You can but it’s about 6 full turns IIRC to adjust from 100 to 130 or visa versa on my revs so not all that convenient but then as I said above I don’t do it very often and pretty much never while actually riding

travel is not a substitute for skill

Well someone was always going to post that 🙂

I agree that extra travel isn’t magically a better thing but I really do think a 5″ hardtail rides better than a 4″ one – a significant part of it though is for the reason that I mentioned above (ie rear end compliance). It’s not a question of need, anyway – very few of us need suspension at all and could ride everything rigid so accepting that, a 100mm fork is not fundamentally different in that respect to a 5″ one so if you can have the benefit of 5″ travel with no real downside (other than a little bit of weight, unless you’re a proper XC racer in which case the softer front might not be so good for sprinting, etc), why not do it?

I was edging towards 100 mm, but having read all the above I’m swinging back towards 130 mm. That plus the fact the 130 mm bike is a P7, which I’ve heard you can’t really go wrong with.